Chamber Calendar

Chairman's Message

31st March 2013

The Town Team, sponsored by and working with the Wayland Chamber, has planned monthly events for this year. Watton should be the place to come! The first Entrepreneurs Market of the year held on 16th March and the Wedding show on 23rd March have shown the strength of the events to be staged.

The next Town Team event will be the Motorcycle weekend on 27th April. This will be preceded the week before with another Entrepreneur's Market on the 20th.
Two pupils from the Wayland Academy will soon join the Wayland Chamber committee. They will add to the vibrancy and provide insights, as well as adding to their experience. We are sure that the increased binding of the Academy and Chamber will lead to perhaps some pupils joining the Town Team. We are also liaising with the Swaffham Business Forum and will encourage members to attend each others events.

We have set up a request for e-mail support from within the Chamber to enable members to pose a problem and seek initial assistance from other members, free of charge. Businesses often have questions they do not know the answer to and are not sure where to go to find those answers. Within the Chamber we have a wealth of experience to provide that support and assistance.

The NEWAngliaLEP (Local Enterprise Partnership) have a plan for the next five years that can be found at: http://www.newanglia.co.uk/Assets/Files/Content/New%20Anglia%20Sector%20Growth%20Report.pdf We reviewed this locally at our open Business Breakfast in March. It produced feedback to the LEP from members and non-members businesses.

Other news is there is £20m fund for business training announced by the Environment Secretary. It is designed to help around 90,000 people who are running or working in rural firms. A range of training courses will be open to businesses in the agriculture, horticulture, forestry, tourism and traditional rural skills sectors, and topics covered will include management, market opportunities and IT. Defra's Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) will subsidise 70% of the cost of the courses, with individuals and employers responsible for the remaining amount. There is more on the training scheme at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2013/02/04/rural-business-training-for-90000-entrepreneurs-launched/

Finally, congratulations to those who have decided to start their own businesses this year through the introductory and other events at the Wayland Partnership. Remember the Wayland Chamber is here to help you.